Demon, Book II: Cyber
by writerchic16
Summary: The group travels through cyberspace as they try to find out both where Molly and Jack are, and why the demon is targeting Fiona.


**Demon,** **Book II: Cyber**

A/N: This is the second part to my trilogy, _Demon_, the first part being _Demon, Book I: Link_. I meant for this to be posted earlier, but what can you do, got distracted by starting school and stuff. This is a continuing story, so you need to read the beginning part first...if you'll notice, this starts at Chapter 8, not Chapter 1. Thank you to those who reviewed Book I!

* * *

_Chapter 8_

A low, electronic hum poked through her subconscious, causing Fiona to come back to reality…or wherever she was at the moment. She didn't know what the spell did, or even if it took effect. There was the possibility that when she opened her eyes she would still be in that weird cyber box. And then would come the challenge of getting out alive with her powers intact.

_Her powers._ The phrase seemed so odd to her. She always thought she was normal, despite her different hobby. Because it was just a hobby, right? Anyone could explore the supernatural like she did.

But she must have thought wrong. Though it seemed incredible to her, she must have more power than she ever dreamed of. Why else would a demon go through all the trouble of kidnapping her?

Because she knew the reasoning he gave her was thin. He'd claimed he wanted her sight because she was defeating too many demons. What bugged her was…why would _he_ care about other demons? In her mind, demons weren't the type to worry about their fellow creature. Was he paranoid that she would one day use her sight to defeat _him_? It was an option, but Fiona doubted that he would go out of his way just to get to her, supposedly a near-ordinary human.

_Supposedly_. There was the key word.

Now, not only did she have the task of finding her family…but also of figuring out what exactly was going on here.

Once she regained feeling in her head.

"Ouch…" she moaned, holding her hands to her throbbing head, her eyes still closed.

"_Little duck?"_

Groaning, she managed to get her eyes open. Then she closed them again. Bricriu's light almost blinded her. "Go…away…" she muttered. "Eyes…hurt…"

"Oh, does the wee duck have a headache?" Bricriu asked in a mocking tone. Switching to a regular one, he said, "Quit bellyaching and get up! With Trinaun on our tails we best get a move on!"

"W-wha…" Fiona woke up in a daze, massaging her forehead and glaring at the spunkie. Then something in her mind clicked. "Trinaun? That's the bastard's name?"

Making a 'tsk' sound with whatever speech vehicle he had, Bricriu replied, "Oh, testy, aren't we? _Get up_!"

"Okay, okay!" Fiona snapped, dragging herself upright. Blinking at the unexpected light, she took in her surroundings.

Instead of a black box, they were now surrounded by white, with blue circuitry flowing around them as far as she could see. The Book lay next to her, still open to the spell page. The Bells were around her, either unconscious or _slowly_ getting up. Carey nudged Clu's shoulder to wake him, while Ned kneeled by his wife calling her name.

For an instant, the scene intensified the need to find her _own_ family. She already missed them so much, and there was ever-present horrifying fear that she may never see them again.

Clearing her throat, Fiona got the Bells' attention and asked, "Is everyone okay?"

"I think so, thank goodness," Ned replied, checking his wife's pulse. With a relieved sigh he insisted, "Irene, honey, get up."

Irene rolled from side to side on the floor, then replied with her eyes still closed. "Oh, Ned, I had the _weirdest_ dream…Molly and Jack were missing, and we'd all been sucked into this warped virtual…" As her eyes opened, she gasped. "Damn, it _wasn't_ a dream." Remembering what happened, she bolted upright and called, "Clu? Carey?"

"We're fine, Mom," Clu replied, himself getting up.

Standing as well, Carey walked over to Fiona and offered her his hand. "Need help?"

"Yeah, but I doubt you can unless you have an aspirin," Fiona joked, taking his hand and standing. She grabbed the Book as well, fearing it may disappear at any moment.

Buzzing about the area, Bricriu hissed, "Now that we've established that, can we start _moving_?"

"Dude, why you being such a tight light?" Clu asked. Fi smirked at the expression, knowing what word was usually in place of "light." Continuing, Clu reasoned, "I mean, we got away from the big bad demon, right?"

Zooming up to just in front of Clu's face, Bricriu yelled, "Ye ignorant _idiot_!"

"Hey, no one talks to my son like that!' Irene exclaimed, "Even if you are a supernatural being!"

The spunkie's light seemed to shift, as if he'd turned around to face her. Inching closer to Irene's angry expression, he retorted, "Well _your son_ doesn't seem to grasp that we're all still in terrible danger! So we escaped, who cares? Don't ye all know who we're dealing with? He has minions, ye know. Hundreds of them. And he'll send every single one of them after _us_…more specifically, the little duck…until he gets what he wants. We need to keep moving, and if we spend one second in one spot, that's one second too long!"

"Well, I guess you would know, since you _worked for him_," Fiona said, reminding him that they still had unfinished business to take care of when they had a chance.

But for the moment, he was right. She just _sensed_ that they weren't only being watched, but stalked…she could feel evil off in the distance, inching closer. It was something she'd been able to do ever since she began her supernatural investigations…but ignored, persuading herself that the entity itself was sending off the signals. Shaking her head, she hugged the Book closer against her stomach and began walking in a random direction away from the signals' source. "Come on, let's get moving."

* * *

Fiona and the Bells kept walking for what seemed like hours, always with the threat of demonic attack in the back of her mind. They kept on moving, saying little, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. She didn't know about the others, but Fiona was desperately trying to keep her mind off her family by going through everything she knew about the paranormal, hoping that she'd hit on something that would give her a clue of her apparent supernatural destiny. Maybe if she figured that out, she would be able to use whatever power she had to get them out of this mess.

Finally, they came across a large kiosk-like stand, with a large engine-looking thing sitting next to it, flowing with blue circuitry.

Seeing that the window door closed, Fiona was the one brave enough to knock. "H-Hello?"

"Fi, do you think that's such a good idea?" Carey asked. "Cyberspace residents don't seem to be too friendly so far."

"That's because the only 'cyberspace residents' we've seen are demons," Fiona reminded him with a sidelong glance at Bricriu. Turning back to the window, Fiona knocked before she lost her nerve. "_Hello_?"

The door snapped open to reveal a bored cyborg, its lone eye glaring at them. "Oh, _humans_. What do _you_ want?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Irene retorted.

Keeping his stressed-out wife calm, Ned said, "Honey, calm down."

Fiona refocused her attention on the cyborg and asked, "No offense, but…what _is_ this? Some kind of information booth?"

"It's a search engine, you idiot," the cyborg retorted, the voice coming with electronic beeps.

Offended, Carey stepped in and snapped, "You wanna say that again and risk being pounded into a tin can?"

"Oh, I'm so scared," the cyborg deadpanned. "As much as I would love to waste more time outwitting you pathetic excuses for life forms, I do have a job to do. Where would you like to go?"

Trading looks with the others, Fiona was reminded that they didn't have a specific destination in mind. They still had no clue where her family was being held. Well, it couldn't hurt to start from square one. "Let's go to my website…www Soweird com. Maybe you've heard of it?"

"Whatever," the cyborg answered, typing something into a keyboard that no one could see from their viewpoint. "There we go. You will be transported in T-minus five seconds."

His eyes widening, Clu exclaimed, "Five _seconds_? But, dude, how…"

Ignoring him, the cyborg counted down, "Five…four…three…two…one. Enjoy your trip."

"But what…" Fiona trailed off, the scenery around her changing as soon as the cyborg pressed a button. The white background faded away, replaced by blackness, only interrupted by brightly colored doors that looked like the icons on her webpage.

Looking around, Ned remarked, "So this is what being inside a website is like, huh? I always imagined more wires."

"Oh, brilliant move, little duck," Bricriu deadpanned. "I'm sure a demon who has been tracking you for years would _never_ think to look here."

"Well, where do _you_ suggest we go?" Fiona snapped. When there was no response from the ball of light, she went back to the icons. "I thought so. Now…where to start…"

"Don't you have any weird, freaky friends who would know about this?" Carey asked, nodding to the "Let's Talk" option.

Glaring at him, Fiona replied, "If we're asking them for help, I doubt it would be wise to call them 'weird' and 'freaky.'"

"Look, snap judgments aside, he does have a point," Irene spoke up, also giving her oldest son a reproving glance. "The Christmas tree light wannabe over there…"

"Now _that_ was uncalled for!" Bricriu interrupted.

Ignoring him, Irene continued, "…said that the thing's name was Trinaun. Maybe someone on your message boards would know about him. Any information we get has to bring us closer to Molly and Jack, right?"

"Ye remember Trinaun but you can't remember _me_ name," Bricriu muttered under his breath.

Irene heard it and glared at him. "Oh, I remembered."

Shaking her head at the two, Fiona admitted that the idea was a good one. Besides, what other option did they have at the moment? "Fine. Let's go," she said, opening the door to reveal a shimmering blue portal.

* * *

Leading the way through the portal, Fiona stepped into a large room that looked like the inside of a coffee house, without the coffee bar. She took in the scene while she waited for the rest of the group to summon enough courage to go through the blue light. That in mind, she shouted, "I'm okay, everyone!"

Bricriu shot through the portal first, ending up at her shoulder. "Well, me wasn't worried," he assured her. "It is a page link, after all."

"I figured as much," Fiona replied, hiding an amused smirk. Bricriu speaking to her at her shoulder much reminded her of a talking parrot on the shoulder of its pirate master.

Still floating in the same spot, Bricriu asked, "Are ye sure this is a good idea? The more people who know about this, the more chances that Trinaun's demons will be able to track us."

"We needed to get out of the search engine, and this popped in my head first. We might as well hang out and see what information we can find," Fiona reasoned. Then, unable to help herself, she asked, "Polly want a cracker?"

"Are ye daft, what are ye…" Bricriu trailed off, realizing the insinuation. Then he floated away, Fi swearing that she heard the term "stupid human" muttered under his breath.

Chuckling to herself, she took in her surroundings as the Bells got their bearings. It was a good sized room, crowded with mismatched chairs. The décor was modern, with light paint on the walls, light wooden floors, and an assortment of plastic or metal chairs that did not look the least bit comfortable.

But Fiona had a feeling that the sensation didn't bother the beings using them. Along with the furniture, what looked like human-sized avatars wandered around the room as if it were a party, mingling with the various groups that formed. There were no distinguishing qualities among the human forms, all colored blue and black. The only way to tell one from the other was the username typed across where the face would be.

Looking back at the rest of the group, she found Carey and Clu standing on either side of her. Staring at the scene with his mouth open, Clu remarked, "Whoa…talk about your cyber café. Do you know anyone here, Fi?"

"Yeah, I do," Fiona answered, surprised to realize that she recognized most of the usernames walking about. They were all registered members of her website. The ones she didn't know she guessed must have registered but never entered the chat room before.

She then looked over at Carey and saw that he didn't seem to be completely there. "Carey? Are you okay?"

Snapping out of his trance, Carey managed to reply, "W-what? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, Fi. I just…this whole internet thing seems very familiar. I dunno what it is…it's like, I keep trying to remember something, but it's just not coming to me."

"I totally know what you're talking about. Happens to me all the time," Clu assured him.

As they stared at the room more, Irene and Ned joined the small group. Bricriu was busy, floating about the different users and ignoring his human companions. Taking in the situation, Irene said, "I suggest we split up – we'll be able to question more people that way."

"Good idea," Ned agreed. "Fi, anyone in particular who might know about this?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Some users have their specialties, but most just come on to share their experiences," Fiona answered. With that, they split up Scooby-Doo style – Ned and Irene taking one side of the room, Fiona and Carey taking the other, and Clu going to ask Bricriu if he'd managed to get any information.

While they stood there deciding who to approach first, Carey asked, "So, Velma, where to?"

"Velma, huh?" Fiona replied, laughing. "Why not Daphne, Fred?"

Carey shrugged. "Velma was the smart one, wasn't she? Daphne was just the pretty face of the group."

"Hey, I don't have a pretty face?" Fiona joked, enjoying it when his face turned white, then red.

Avoiding eye contact, Carey said, "W-Well, yeah, of course you do…"

"Hey, Fi! What's up?"

Fiona laughed as Carey breathed a sigh of relief. A chat room member had come up to them, the username identifying it as 'TruthSeeking.' Smiling, Fiona reminded herself that it was her friend Hallie, a paranormal investigator from Texas. Just the person she needed to talk to. "Hey, Hallie. Uh, well, a demon kidnapped my family and is hiding them somewhere in the internet. Given how big the internet is, you can see my dilemma."

"Oh, shoot, Fi, I'm sorry to hear that," Hallie replied. It was a little unnerving, as there was no mouth saying the words. Though, Fiona reasoned, probably not as weird as it would be had she not been talking to Bricriu all day. "Well, do you know who the demon is? Maybe I've heard of him."

Nodding, Fiona said, "Yeah, Bricriu said his name was Trinaun…"

"Yeah, big, black shadow-y three headed thing. Hard to miss and seemed big on dramatics," Carey added.

Instead of replying to Carey, Hallie said, "Bricriu's back? I remember when you dealt with him, Fi. The little bugger escape his cell?"

"Long story, Look, I know you mostly deal with hauntings, but is there any chance you've heard of this guy? And, hopefully, knows where he usually keeps his prisoners?" Fi asked, daring to get her hopes up.

"Sorry, don't know that last part," Hallie said, causing Fiona to let out a disappointed sigh. "But I do know Trinaun, sort of. One of my clients worked for a website. The entire building was loaded with computers in every available area. Then one day the whole place just shut down, every single computer at once, and couldn't be revived no matter what technician they brought in.

Anyway, what I learned is that he calls the internet his home…most demons use caves, but hey, to each its own. _Really_ likes to have the upper hand, kind of a drama king personally. Go against him and he gets extremely pissed…also happens when a plan doesn't work for him. You trip him up and you'll get the upper hand. But it's hard to find out what that plan is 'cause he's very sneaky."

"How did you beat him?" Fiona asked, both for more information and to satisfy her own curiosity.

"I didn't really beat him, no one ever does…obviously, if he's strong enough to take you on now," Hallie replied. "I tried a few things, but mostly he just went away after he'd sucked every last bit of power and storage room out of the computers. My client's company had to buy all new computers after that and nearly caused her business to fold."

"Wow," Carey said, the look on his face expressing his dread of going up against the demon now.

Fiona, however, wasn't put off. Just because Hallie couldn't beat him, didn't mean that Fiona couldn't. After all, she had untapped power and a book-load of spells at her side. Not to mention the additional determination of finding her family. "Thanks for the info, Hallie. So I guess you don't know his usual hang-outs?"

"Nope," Hallie replied, remorse in her tone. "Sorry I can't help you more, but I don't know much more than what I saw of him." She hesitated, glancing at the door. Turning around, Fiona and Carey spotted a user called 'AlienInvader' enter the room. "Oh, hey, Dan just signed on. Good luck with everything, and don't be a stranger if you need more help!" With that, she went over to her other friend.

Once she was gone, Fiona glanced at Carey. "So, did _she_ seem weird and freaky?"

"A little…" Carey answered, wincing when Fiona hit his arm in response.

They mingled a little, Fiona saying hi to whichever user recognized her. Then they came across one that seemed familiar to both Fiona and Carey.

"Fi, thank goodness you're here, I've been emailing you all day," the user said, coming to stop just in front of them.

Not sure who the user was, Fiona tried to be gracious and replied, "Oh, hi…" she paused, glancing at the username. "…Jordan. What do you need help with?"


End file.
